So Elicd is a traveler. To put it bluntly, he just hasn't found a place, or a reason to settle down. He is frequently just a little too curious for his own good, which often gives him a reason to seek another road. He finds affinity with creatures of the wilds and is at home as much in the forest as he is in a town. With Fey blood coursing through his veins he finds that he often gets by with helping people see the situation his way.

Here's most of the Crunch in an alias. I'll gear up and finish the details later. Basically a healer and undead killer in a sleek archery package. Background wise, not sure what would be appropriate for where the game is now. Something like:

She was born in (insert cosmipolitan city name here), and raised in a well connected family within the church of Sarenrae. She followed her parents into the church, and when she was still a young cleric found herself struck by the plight of the poorer rural adherents. She decided to dedicate her life to bringing the light and warmth of Sarenrae to the darkest places. When she heard the rumors of shadow monsters plaguing the land, she immediately set out to investigate.

So the basic idea is a fast, mobile, acrobatic, no-armor melee combatant who is trying to perfect her skills with the katana. Think of any of the iconic 'lone wolf' Samurai films - I'd recommend 'Seven Samurai' - and you can see where I'm going with Reiko.

These will be her only classes (no prestiges and no other 'dipping') and the majority of her levels will go towards Samurai or Fighter.

Personally, I'm not a fan of 3 class builds and I try to avoid them if possible. Unfortunately, trying to do the concept justice pushed me in this direction. However, if you have serious reservations about 3 classes, let me know and I'll try to re-tool her along a '2 class' line. In that case, it will likely be either be a Samurai/Monk or Fighter/Monk.

I'll tweak her character sheet and throw up build information when I have it. Thanks!

Okay, I had a brainstorm. Forget the second bard question. I get a Black Company vibe from the brief write-ups i've read about your game, so I leaned into that somewhat -- while also trying to fill the void in the skill set of both a scout/tracker as well as an arcanist-in-a-pinch.

With that in mind, I submit Alenthyn, elven archer and scout of the Wardens.

Fluff:

Alenthyn has been a fixture in the local company of the Wardens for generations, surviving year after harsh year in a company of dwindling men. And it seems for every year he's survived he's seemingly picked up a different nickname… Al, Splinter, Squints, Eyes, Bones, Thin… the list goes on.

No one knows how old Alenthyn is (he's 140) nor do any of the fellow Wardens seem to know how long he's served (70 years -- which is in a story all its own). But here's what they do know. He's strange. And not just in an "elf amongst men" way… He. Is. Strange.

Topping out at about six and a half feet tall, Alenthyn seems to be all stretched out limbs, knobby joints, and pasty white skin. It's joked that this combination is how he earned the nickname Bones… cause he looks like just that… a skeleton. Despite his awkward, gangly build, he's whipcord fast and surprisingly strong -- due to years of scouting and fighting for survival. If that weren't enough, Alenthyn's skin is snow-white, seemingly unblemished (save a few scars) and completely hairless… even on his face and head. Couple all of this with his exotic, elongated facial features and nearly completely black, pupil less eyes, and it's no wonder Alenthyn sticks out like a sore thumb.

So while he is alien, awkward, blunt, and -- well… in a word strange -- he's one of the best trackers and scouts in the area. Strong, fast, sharp-eyed, and dangerous with that longbow of his, Alenthyn is a good friend in a pinch. Toss in what the boys all his "elven voodoo", and he's a good addition to any venture.

-----

Alenthyn's age. The short version of the story is that Alenthyn fit in as an elf about as well as he fit in among humans. Isolated and ostracized even among his own people, he left at a young age to seek out his place. Somewhere around the age of 70 (still young for one of his kind) and after years of continued rejection, he found himself tossed into an awkward situation with a company of the short-lived -- a group that called themselves the Wardens. In one of those strange situations where everyone contributes or everyone dies, Alenthyn threw in with the Wardens, acting as their archer and scout until the danger had passed. It was more kinship than he'd felt… ever. So he stuck around.

The strange thing. Alenthyn never formally joined the Wardens, though no one in the company seems keen on that fact. He's been a part of the unit longer than nearly any other member, so few actually know this. But everyone can depend on him when it matters.

I'm still working through spells and gear, but I have a few questions. Alenthyn's Bonded Item is going to be his bow. Can I use his crafting element of that to reduce the price of it for the purpose of buying initial gear?

Secondly, a big portion of his set-up revolves around using his own scribed scrolls. I wanted to stretch his starting gold farther by crafting a bunch of them from the get-go. Are you fine with this?

Thirdly, about spells -- so Alenthyn would get his usual 2 spells per level to his spell book. Usually, he'd have been adding other spells to his book while adventuring. Is there a way we can sprinkle in a handful more spells to account for this?

And thats about it. I hope you like him. Obviously I'll make a profile page if I'm chosen.

Per Roshan's house rule you can reroll any rolls below half of the average result... so you could reroll everything but the 6 and keep rerolling until you got high enough results, or if you prefer just use d6+4 for the d10 and d4+2 for the d6.

Regarding the spells, most GMs let you use starting wealth for buying spells, per the costs mentioned in the PRD.

Going to end up taking the following. I've decided upon a couple extras to act as a buffer in case anyone else decides to stand down. If you have any questions about the world let me know. We're going to settle all of the OOC stuff like if you decide to have had your characters know each other beforehand now before we start.

Sorry if there was a misunderstanding but the Wardens of Eastmarch have been absent from the world for a very long time, a number of generations. Even for the long lived elves only the eldest remember a time where they even existed.

Ariella:

Perhaps Lem (the capital of eastmarch, the heart of the republic is very advanced but anyone familiar with it's history can see how far it's fallen in comparison to the first council), Hobb (the largest city in the current region, a very nice place to visit but they have very strict segregation by class), Kep (large port city to the west, they're considered very progressive).

Reiko:

Dolelan brought up a point, while there are certain similarities to an Asian analog in Saranna there is no far east equivalent in the world, so while the culture/weapons/fighting styles are similar there are going to be some very distinct changes.

Clothing is in what you would consider the western style, tunics, breeches, and dresses vs kimonos, hakama and things of that sort. In addition the people of the eastern kingdoms are all basically germanic in looks, pale skin with subdued hair. There is a blood red hair color that is unique to Saranna.

Breunnor:

Eastmarch is full of dwarves and in the south (where the campaign currently is) they are very much welcome. The lands north of Isa are a different story however, the dwarves are a very secluded people and a lord who's name has been lost to history once thought that meant weakness. Dwarven steel is among the finest in all the world and he figured it would be better to invade their mountain homes and have those smiths under his command, he rallied several other like-minded lords and they gathered men for their cause. What he didn't expect when he marched on Hathgrim with ten thousand men was to meet with complete and utter destruction. The Dwarves rode out and met him on the plains beneath their mountain city with a force of five thousand steelborn, the humans were completely and utterly destroyed. Taking offense to this slight the dwarves left their mountain homes and decended upon the northern plains, sweeping through the land more or less uncontested. It wasn't until Lord Benthas intervened, he created a peace with the dwarves and in exchange for ceased hostilities the Dwarves were allowed to keep half the lands they had conquered. Five hundred years later there is still discontent in the north.

The dwarven fortress city of Halgrim is merely the tip of the spear, cities stretch from north to south along the Sleeping Giants, the mountain range that runs half the length, North to South, of Eastmarch.

Maeltheron:

Your background works well, elves are known as great bowmen for obvious reasons. Elven society is very lax, while there are lords and kings among the fair folk they don't really "Rule" unless in times of war. While most elves choose to spend they many days of their long lives in the sheltered boughs of their forest homes it is not unknown or even rare for an elf to choose life among the shorter lived races.

I'm not sure what you mean by subdued hair color. So Saranna hair color could be red (rare/unusual), brown, and sandy blonde? Is red a unusual hair color in this area of the world? I'm thinking of playing her as something of a fish out of water and if red hair would make her stand out - I can easily work with it.

Also, are there any naming conventions I need to know for the character since Saranna since isn't an asian equivalent? Should her name be more Germanic? If need be, I'll just create an entirely new avatar and name that works.

I'll be throwing up a preliminary build tonight and tweaking the write-up based on what we work out. Again, if you have any issues with the 3 class build, let me know. I'm happy to try to do the concept justice with two classes. I'll be reading through the main thread fully to make sure I pick up on the whole flavor of the campaign.

Finally, is the Katana OK as a weapon? If not, what kind of weapons are commonly used in Saranna?

Sorry, I guess I should have put a little more thought into the wording of that. Most common among the haircolors are brown, black and that unique red which they refer to as Sarannan Red.

Dont worry about naming conventions.

The Katana is fine, the Sarannan smiths have pretty much the same situation as Japan, their lands aren't rich in iron and the scant amount of natural Iron that is painstakingly mined from the inhospitable hinterlands. The ore is turned into steel and folded many times to remove impurities.

Wow. Finally finished reading the entire gameplay thread from the beginning, that took a while. Okay, here is my updated background. Thanks for picking me. I'd prefer not to know anyone. Let me know when I should go to the gameplay thread.

Background:

Ariella was born into a well connected family in the church of Sarenrae in Kep. She spent her youth enjoying everything an elite family can provide its children. She joined the church as a cleric as soon as she was old enough. Her first assignment took her outside the city, and for the first time she was exposed to the plight of the rural poor. Their lack of access to healing magics, education and protection from the monsters of the wild infuriated her. She decided to become an itinerant priestess, wandering the land and helping those in need of the Dawnflower's light. When she heard rumors of shadow monsters plaguing the land, she immediately headed east to investigate.

She arrived in the village of Bosh to find the majority of its inhabitants slaughtered, including large groups of adventurers who had flocked to the call for help. Coming across a green skinned man named Lugdro, he informed her of a group that contributed mightily to the town's defense before traveling further to investigate the source of the shadow monsters. He told her that they were headed for Jackal's Folly, so she set out immediately in that direction, hoping to find them.